Kōwakamai

Kōwakamai [kowakamai, kouwakamai, 幸若舞, こうわかまい] is a type of kusemai, or recitative dance, which was popular during Japan’s Muromachi Period (1333-1573 C.E.). Although kōwakamai has dance and musical components, scholars consider its textual component as an independent literary genre.

Kōwakamai is thought to date back 700 years (14th century), sharing its origins in traditional court dance and music with nō and kabuki. Kōwakamai is performed every year on January 20 at Tenman-jinja, a shintō shrine in Ōe.

History

Kōwakamai (along with nō) is a form of entertainment enjoyed by warrior-class families during Japan’s medieval age. Kōwakamai performances were celebratory but also the cause for sorrow. Many of the pieces are sorrowful tales, ranging from resoundingly sympathetic tales dealing with the loss of life and defeat. The piece titled “Atsumori” which depicts Taira no Atsumori [平敦盛] and Kumagai Naozane [熊谷直実] at the battle of Ichi no tani is especially popular for these reasons.

When considering the kōwakamai lineage and the creation of kōwaka-bukyoku (the actual kōwakamai written-texts), one Momonoi Naoakira [桃井直詮] is usually accredited. Momonoi Naoakira was a 10th generation descendant of Momonoi Harima no Kami Tadatsune [桃井播磨守直常] who in turn was a descendant of Minamoto no Yoshiie [源義家]. Momonoi Naoakira’s childhood name was “Kōwakamaru” [幸若丸], from which it is said the term “kōwakamai” gets its name.

Kōwakamaru lived in Nishita-nakamura in Echizen Province’s Nyū district and after his father’s death became a young male attendant (chigo) on Mt. Hiei. Since birth Kōwakamaru was said to have been a genius, talented at singing, dancing, and music. He became well known for his ability to recite tales in the tradition court-music style, his performances came to be called “kōwaka-mai.” This is the start of what is known as Echizen kōwakamai. Echizen kōwakamai follows the Kōwaka family lineage with Momonoi Hachirō Kurō [桃井八郎九郎], followed by Anjirō [弥次郎], and then Kohachirō [小八郎]. It is through this family lineage that the transmission of the art form continued until the collapse of the Edo bakufu—at which point passing the kōwakamai tradition down from generation to generation also ceased.

The kōwakamai Daigashira School began with Anjirō’s and was then passed down to Yamamoto Shirō Zaemon [山本四郎左衛門] and then to his disciple Mukade Zenbe [百足屋善兵衛] then to Ōsawa Jisuke Kōji [大沢次助幸次]. In Tenshō 10 (1582 CE) Ōsawa Jisuke Kōji was invited to Kyūshū by the lord of Chikugo Province’s Yamashita Castle, Kamachi Shigeun (?) [蒲池鎮運], and his cousin, the lord of Yanagawa Castle, Kamachi Shigenami (?) [蒲池鎮漣] where he taught the performance style and transmitted the art form to the lords and their vassals. That style of kōwakamai became Ōe kōwakamai. After the Meiji Restoration when feudal lords lost their landholdings and wealth the art form suffered setbacks, but it is this Daigashira School Ōe kōwakamai that has been transmitted to the present day. In the Ōe region, kōwakamai has successfully been passed on for 222 years as of the year 2009.

Kōwakamai Corpus

Many kōwakamai pieces represent variations of tales found in other tests and genres. However, the kōwakamai versions contain variations such as shortening or extending the dramatic prose of given scenes within an episode. Scholars believe that there were up to seventy-eight kōwakamai at one time: thirty-six Kōwaka lineage and forty-two Daigashira lineage. However, only forty-four total texts survive today. There are two “short ballads” [shōkyoku 小曲] “Matsueda” [松枝] and “Rōjin” [老人] that exist which would bring the total up to forty-four extant texts if counted.

For argument’s sake kōwakamai fall into the following categories: Ancient tales, Minamoto tales, Heike tales, Yoshitsune tales, Soga tales, and miscellaneous tales.

• Ancient tales:
  • Chronicle of Japan [Nihongi 日本記]
  • Iruka [Iruka 入鹿)
  • The Great Woven Cap [Taishokukan 大織冠]
  • The Minister Yurikawa [Yuriwaka-daijin 百合若大臣]
  • Shida [Shida 信田]
• Minamoto tales:
  • Manjū [Manjū 満仲]
  • Kamada [Kamada 鎌田]
  • Kiso’s Supplication [Kiso Gansho 木曾願書]
  • Ibuki [Ibuki 伊吹]
  • The Portent of Dreams [Yume-awase 夢合]
  • The Assemblage of Horsemen [Uma zoroe 馬揃]
  • Beach Outing [Hamaide 浜出]
  • The Nine-holed Shell [Kuketsu no kai 九穴貝]
  • Mongaku [Mongaku 文覚]
  • Nasu no Yoichi [Nasu no yoichi 那須与一]
• Heike tales:
  • The Island of Sulphur [Iōgashima 硫黄島]
  • The Island Construction [Tsukishima 築島]
  • Atsumori [Atsumori 敦盛]
  • Kagekiyo [Kagekiyo 景清]
• Yoshitsune tales:
  • Tokiwa at Fushimi [Fushimi Tokiwa 伏見常盤, also 伏見常葉]
  • Tokiwa’s Dispute [Tokiwa mondō 常盤問答, also 常葉問答]
  • The Scroll of the Flute [Fue no maki 笛之巻]
  • Chronicle of the Future [Miraiki 未来記]
  • Leaving Kurama [Kuramade 鞍馬出]
  • The Fold of the Eboshi [Eboshi-ori 烏帽子折]
  • Koshigoe [Koshigoe 腰越]
  • The Night Attack at Horikawa [Horikawa youchi 堀河夜討]
  • Escape to Shikoku [Shikoku ochi 四国落]
  • Shizuka [Shizuka 静]
  • Togashi [Togashi 富樫]
  • Search of the Shoulder-trunk [Oisagashi 笈探]
  • The Battle of Yajima [Yajima 八島]
  • Izumi’s Fortress [Izumi ga jō 泉が城]
  • Kiyoshige [Kiyoshige 清重]
  • Takadachi [Takadachi 高館]
• Soga tales:
  • The Reluctance to Slay the Soga Brothers [Kirikane Soga 切兼曽我 ]
  • The Adulthood Rites of the Soga Brothers [Genbuku Soga 元服曽我]
  • Wada’s Wine Feast [Wada sakamori 和田酒盛]
  • The Soga Brothers and the Kosode Shirt [Kosode Soga 小袖曽我]
  • Laud of the Sword [Tsurugi sandan 剣讃嘆]
  • The Night Attack by the Soga Brothers [Youchi Soga 夜討曽我]
  • Slashing the Ten Challengers [Jūbangiri 十番斬]
• Miscellaneous
  • The New Piece [Shinkyoku 新曲]
  • Chang Liang [Chōryō 張良]

Kōwakamai Preservation

The Japanese government has designated kōwakamai to be an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) [jūyōmukei minzoku bunkazai, 重要無形民俗文化財]. The folk custom is practiced in the town Setakamachi Ōe in Miyama City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Although almost nothing is truly known about how kōwakamai was performed at the time of its greatest popularity, performances are held annually in Japan as part of a local festival of sorts. The instrumental melodic arrangements of eight ballads as well as the method of their oral recitation have been restored by the Kōwakamai Preservation Society in Setakamachi Ōe, Miyama City in Fukuoka Prefecture. On 20 January 2008 “Atsumori,” “Takadachi,” and “Youchi Soga” were performed by the Kōwakamai Preservation Society’s adult troupe. “Atsumori” was performed by the young adult troupe. And “Hamaide” and “Nihongi” were performed by the elementary school-age troupe. The tale “Atsumori” is particularly well known because of its depiction of Oda Nobunaga. Before Oda departs for the Battle of Okehazama, he does a choreographed dance and recites the famous lines, “Although a man may be alive on earth for fifty years, in heaven those fifty years are but an instant--a dream.” This performance of “Atsumori” was also performed in Kyoto by the Kōwakamai Society in February 2009.

At the same time as the Kyoto “Atsumori” performance, “Ataka” was also staged. Both performances were recorded on CD & DVD by the Kyoto City University of the Arts’ Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music.

References

• Araki, James T. The Ballad-Drama of Medieval Japan. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964.
• http://www.hakata-nasu.com/setaka_net/kowaka/kowaka.htm
• Oyler, Elizabeth. Swords, Oaths, and Prophetic Visions. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006.
• Asahara Yoshiko and Kitahara Yasuo, eds. “Kaisetsu." In, Mai no hon. Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 59, 589-620. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1989.
• Kimbrough, R. Keller. Preachers, Poets, Women, and the Way. Ann Arbor: Center for Asian Studies, the University of Michigan, 2008.